To understand these laws, it is critical to understand the ways in which people of color in the U.S. have been dehumanized, tortured, and exploited for centuries.

In this op-ed, journalist Candace McDuffie explains the history of miscegenation laws in the United States, and how disdain for interracial relationships has resulted in discriminatory policy and violence against people of color spanning centuries.

The rape and sexual abuse of enslaved women and men at the hands of white people occurred without any punitive repercussions during and after the time of slavery in the United States, though relationships between the two races were considered greatly taboo — so much so that laws were enacted to keep them from happening.

Starting in the late 1600s, miscegenation laws — which banned black people and, in some cases, other non-white groups from marrying or having sex with white people — were put into effect in slave-holding colonies like Virginia and Maryland, where the law directly addressed white women, who "forgetful of their free condition and to the disgrace of our Nation do intermarry with Negro slaves.” They eventually spread to northern states like Pennsylvania and Massachusetts, and a “one-drop” rule, which often signified racial delineation by any non-white linage, was eventually formalized by law.

At the end of Reconstruction in the late 1800s, miscegenation laws, which had been struck by some Southern states, were reinstated. In fact, according to The New Republic, there were more miscegenation laws in place in 1900 than in 1875. Discourse around mixed-race relationships evolved to consider new populations to the U.S., like between Asian immigrants and white people. Those caught breaking these rules faced fines, imprisonment, or death at the hands of vigilante mobs.

To understand these laws, it is critical to understand the ways in which people of color in the U.S. have been dehumanized, tortured, and exploited for centuries. Like Jim Crow laws, which were established in the late 19th century, miscegenation laws aimed to uphold the false sanctity of whiteness while simultaneously disenfranchising an entire group of people. Although slavery had been abolished, the belief that black people are inherently inferior to whites was still deeply embedded into American society. The pervasive narrative that black people are inherently violent and animalistic led to the formation of hate groups that would become violent vehicles for white Southern resistance — with the most infamous being the Ku Klux Klan. Formed in 1865, members of the KKK were responsible for the bombings, beatings, and lynching of black people and activists who were working toward laws that promoted racial equity. Even after black people were theoretically promised separate but equal public facilities as a result of 1896's landmark Supreme Court ruling Plessy v. Ferguson, discrimination and violence designed to advance white supremacy continued.

It wasn’t until 1967 that the Supreme Court ruled that state miscegenation laws were unconstitutional in the landmark case Loving v. Virginia. "The freedom to marry, or not marry, a person of another race resides with the individual," wrote Chief Justice Earl Warren, "and cannot be infringed by the State." However, decades passed before every state in the U.S. adopted the law of the land: only in 2000, the last hold out, Alabama, eliminated the (non-enforceable) rule.

By concocting and enforcing laws that forbid interracial relationships, racial persecution became further exacerbated. These beliefs carried over into this generation, and the inherent discriminatory beliefs that drove miscegenation laws will continue to make interracial relationships a source of fodder for racists. Fifty years after this historic decision, interracial dating and marriage has steadily risen. However, it is sometimes still sensationalized and stigmatized. Although many claim to no longer harbor racial bias toward black people, a series of recent studies of predominantly white college students found that participants showed disgust for interracial couples.

People of color today are faced with complex internal questioning about interracial relationships, as noted by a rise in the last few years of personal essays and articles about the internalization they face when dating outside of their race — and how it can sometimes serve as another way to put whiteness on a pedestal. Writers like Frederick McKindra, who explored his attraction for white men in a story for Buzzfeed, and Collier Meyerson, who insisted in a piece for The Cut that the election of President Donald Trump might make her swear off white men for good, are examples of this analysis in practice. Even recently, as Vogue essayist Elaine Musiwa attempted to tackle the complexity of blackness as it pertains to Meghan Markle — a biracial woman who on November 27 announced her engagement to England's Prince Harry — the author recalled her own memories of desperately wanted to be romantically desired by white men, writing, "Markle looks like some of the mixed-race girls who I went to high school with in my suburban town. When the Internet was still new, I used a few of their pictures to catfish white boys so I could hear them say that they loved me, even if it was only digitally and not really me." All of the aforementioned articles noted the historical weight and judgment that comes when a person of color desires or dates a white person — like fetishism, racism, or being viewed as 'other' from their partners or their partner’s families and friends. Often, when interracial dating is discussed in detail by or among people of color—particularly black people—we are seemingly at the mercy of white love interests, who dictate attractiveness, feelings, self-worth, and usefulness.

The television network ABC made history this year by casting the first black Bachelorette in the show's nearly 15-year history, Rachel Lindsay. The network, which profits off a show entrenched in salacious scandal, made their star a black woman. The humiliation she faced at the hands of white suitors was, in turn, monetized. In a series of tweets from last year, one of Lindsay's suitors revealed he hates Islam and posted an article about how Black Lives Matter should be considered a terrorist organization. Other shows have also used race in a similar dating competition setting as a tool for ratings, despite the real threats that interracial couples face.

Ultimately, the legacy of miscegenation laws is rooted in white supremacy and America’s proclivity to constantly punish and debase black people. Although they are no longer in effect legally, the turmoil and the suffering they've caused is indicative of just how racism—and the steps that need to be taken to get rid of it—is as pertinent as ever.